Las Vegas is probably a crazy place to take your kids for Thanksgiving—especially if your kids are 11 and 17. But Steve and I decided to do it for a few reasons. Primary among them was that we wanted to visit Hoover Dam. We thought it would be educational for Biz and Alex and I had never been there. So we bought four plane tickets and planned our trip.
Before we hit the road for the Dam, we had a chance to visit with Leah Pennig. Leah worked as my assistant for a year or so and has covered trade shows for us in Las Vegas since she moved here about a year and a half ago. It was great to reconnect in person. I was reminded of all the reasons why she worked in my office and, once again, had to admit that I missed being around her mild personality and studied perspective on an every-day basis. Here we are together outside of The Egg and I.
l - r: Leah Penning and me; Art Deco at Hoover Dam; M&M World
The short from drive Las Vegas to just past Boulder City was well worth it. Hoover Dam is a truly an engineering marvel. It’s easy to appreciate that fact by its size alone. But I was as attracted to its Art Deco features as I was to its mass. The plaques, the elevator doors and the sculpture decorating the site marked the time in history when this magnificent structure was completed.
The timing of this stroll among Art Deco elements was perfect. On I had finished writing and editing the December issue of The Trend Curve™. In a section devoted to Classic themes, I called out Art Deco as the next evolution of the Glamour trend because it takes Glamour all the way back to its roots. A handful of companies at The High Point International Furniture Market introduced Deco collections (there are always a number of Deco pieces). Thomasville’s Bogart Luxe group was a real standout.
But back to Las Vegas…
Once we got here I discovered that the Venetian hotel has an exhibit of Russian art, jewels and weapons. Since I believe that Russian is an incoming theme for the Global trend, I want to go. By contrast, Alex wanted to go to M & M’s World. Guess which one won out?
We got to M & M’s World about 8:30 last night. Wandering four floors of licensed merchandise was surprisingly uninteresting to him. The bins of M & M’s—offered by color, by color assortment and by type (plain, peanut, etc.)—were much more so but at $9.00 per pound (even in Las Vegas, I thought that was a lot for M & M’s) Steve didn’t let him buy that many.